Missouri soldier shares first-hand account of Alaskan earthquake

U.S. Army Captain Matthew Rigdon, a 2007 graduate of Seckman High School in eastern Missouri’s Imperial is among the soldiers who experienced Friday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Alaska. Rigdon is stationed at a base near Anchorage, where the quake occurred.

Rigdon is with the 4th Brigade Combat 25th Infantry Division and lives off-base with his wife and two-year-old daughter. He says he was finishing breakfast on base when the mess hall kept shaking.

“The shaking continued and then it actually intensified. That’s kind of when we made the eye contact and thought without words we need to get out of here,” he says.

Rigdon then began checking on his company, including some soldiers who were in the air on drills, trying to get in some “jump” time when the earthquake hit.

When Rigdon was able to make his way home, he says water had been shut off in his neighborhood because of a broken main and the natural gas line was also turned off as a precaution. According to Rigdon, his house sustained damage from the quake and he and his wife had quite a mess to clean up.

An Alaska Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter departs Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to conduct an aerial site survey after the earthquake. (Photo courtesy of Balinda O’Neal Dresel/Army Guard)

“At the end of the day, just thankful that no one was seriously injured and as far as we know, no one had been killed from the earthquake. So, we’re really thankful for that,” he says.

Rigdon has been stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson for the past two years.